Sabbath 17/2/39/120

Dear Friends,

Al Jazeera  has issued a news report saying that:  “A top Israeli military leader has issued a stern warning to the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, saying any future war between the two enemies will unleash "devastating" damage on Lebanon.

Major General Yair Golan, Israel's deputy chief of staff, told international journalists on Wednesday that Hezbollah had developed capabilities that present "unprecedented" threats to Israel.

Israel estimates the group has over 100,000 rockets and missiles in its arsenal.”

They reported that Golan said any future war will be ‘much harsher’ than anything experienced in the past 20 years, and he said ‘that could create devastating damage to Lebanon.’

Israel and Hezbollah fought a month-long war in the summer of 2006 that ended in a stalemate. The fighting left more than 1,100 Lebanese and 159 Israelis killed. 

The conflict, the last between the two sides, lasted for more than a month. The next one will, as we see from Bible prophecy, see the elimination of Syria and Lebanon as independent states (Isa. Chapter 19).  The prophecy actually ties Egypt and Assyria into the three nation cooperative that included Egypt, Israel and Assyria as all of Iraq north of the Euphrates.  Medea will seemingly be a separate Kurdistan.  Israel will spread from Turkey and include Lebanon, Israel, Palestine, Gaza and Jordan to the Arabian Desert.

The massive missile arsenal that Hezbollah has amassed with the aid of Iran and Syria will see massive retaliation from Israel and the conflict will escalate quickly.  The only thing that we can do is to pray for the peace and security of Israel and the relative calm in the Middle East, whatever that might be.  God speaks of the prophecy for Israel over the period of the last days right up until the end in Isaiah 19.

[1] An oracle concerning Egypt. Behold, the LORD is riding on a swift cloud and comes to Egypt; and the idols of Egypt will tremble at his presence, and the heart of the Egyptians will melt within them. [2] And I will stir up Egyptians against Egyptians, and they will fight, every man against his brother and every man against his neighbor, city against city, kingdom against kingdom; [3] and the spirit of the Egyptians within them will be emptied out, and I will confound their plans; and they will consult the idols and the sorcerers,and the mediums and the wizards; [4] and I will give over the Egyptians into the hand of a hard master; and a fierce king will rule over them, says the Lord, the LORD of hosts.

The Assyrians began the wars against Egypt and also the Hyksos and the Hittites.  The Hyksos or the Shepherd Kings appear to have been the Israelites or part of the Middle East Hyksos.  The Ahmosids were definitely Hittites from the Hittite Empire that formed the 18th Ahmosid Dynasty from the Thebans.  The prophecy goes on into the last days fairly quickly.  The Hyksos and the Israelites occupied Goshen and Egypt was occupied until the Hyksos and Israelites were expelled and in the Exodus.

[5] And the waters of the Nile will be dried up, and the river will be parched and dry; [6] and its canals will become foul, and the branches of Egypt's Nile will diminish and dry up, reeds and rushes will rot away. [7] There will be bare places by the Nile, on the brink of the Nile, and all that is sown by the Nile will dry up, be driven away, and be no more. [8] The fishermen will mourn and lament, all who cast hook in the Nile; and they will languish who spread nets upon the water. [9] The workers in combed flax will be in despair, and the weavers of white cotton.[10] Those who are the pillars of the land will be crushed, and all who work for hire will be grieved.[11] The princes of Zo'an are utterly foolish; the wise counselors of Pharaoh give stupid counsel. How can you say to Pharaoh, "I am a son of the wise, a son of ancient kings"? [12] Where then are your wise men? Let them tell you and make known what the LORD of hosts has purposed against Egypt. [13] The princes of Zo'an have become fools, and the princes of Memphis are deluded; those who are the cornerstones of her tribes have led Egypt astray. [14] The LORD has mingled within her a spirit of confusion; and they have made Egypt stagger in all her doings as a drunken man staggers in his vomit. [15] And there will be nothing for Egypt which head or tail, palm branch or reed, may do.

From this time the Assyrians were at war with Egypt and then the Babylonians and Egypt supported the Assyrians against Babylon but were defeated at Carchemish in 605 BCE.  In 525 BCE Cambyses occupied Egypt and the Jews were established at the fortress at Elephantine and they occupied the place until 410 BCE. They were supported as a force of the Persians under the Satrap Arsames. At this time the Temple was rebuilt and refurbished under Ezra and Nehemiah with contributions also from Elephantine.

[16] In that day the Egyptians will be like women, and tremble with fear before the hand which the LORD of hosts shakes over them.[17] And the land of Judah will become a terror to the Egyptians; every one to whom it is mentioned will fear because of the purpose which the LORD of hosts has purposed against them. 

The Jews established a colony in Egypt at the five cities which were centred on Heliopolis or the City of the Sun and its five counties.

[18] In that day there will be five cities in the land of Egypt which speak the language of Canaan and swear allegiance to the LORD of hosts. One of these will be called the City of the Sun. [19] In that day there will be an altar to the LORD in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar to the LORD at its border.

In ca 160 CE after the Greeks had taken over Egypt the High Priest Onias IV went to Egypt and established the Temple there in what had been Goshen when Christ entered and was the light that shone there for the Exodus and this prophecy was fulfilled so that Hosea also could be fulfilled when the Messiah was sent there in the last years of Herod the Great to preserve his life.  Thus God would say “out of Egypt have I called my son” (Hos. 11:1).   So also the saviour will be sent to them in the last days.

[20] It will be a sign and a witness to the LORD of hosts in the land of Egypt; when they cry to the LORD because of oppressors he will send them a saviour, and will defend and deliver them. [21] And the LORD will make himself known to the Egyptians; and the Egyptians will know the LORD in that day and worship with sacrifice and burnt offering, and they will make vows to the LORD and perform them. 

Thus the Messiah will go to Egypt in the Second Advent and strike Egypt and subjugate it. They will be converted to the true Faith and they will obey the Messiah and the elect at Jerusalem for 1000 years.

[22] And the LORD will smite Egypt, smiting and healing, and they will return to the LORD, and he will heed their supplications and heal them. 

Thus Egypt will follow and be part of the trading partnership of Israel and Assyria from Egypt to the North of the Mountains of Iraq and the border with Media or the Kurds.

[23] In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrian will come into Egypt, and the Egyptian into Assyria, and the Egyptians will worship with the Assyrians. [24] In that day Israel will be the third with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth, [25] whom the LORD of hosts has blessed, saying, "Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my heritage." 

This conflict of the days of the end will see these nations destroy themselves and Israel will become the centre of a world trading partnership occupying Gaza and Lebanon and parts of Turkey and Syria and Jordan and the areas of the Edomites to the Red Sea and to the Arabian Desert.  Judah will not rule alone and the nation of the Tribes will rule with it and occupy their lands.  Those of Judaism will convert and the Palestinians of Hadithic Islam will also repent or be expelled.  They will all keep the calendar of God (The Calendar of God (No. 156) and they will repent of the heresy of Hillel (see Hillel, Babylonian Intercalations and the Temple Calendar (No. 195C)).  No more will they postpone the Holy Days of God and taunt Him with their wilful disobedience and their traditions (see the paper The Calendar and the Moon: Festivals or Postponements (No. 195)).

Wade Cox